Royal City Science brings ‘Our Climate Quest’ exhibit to Guelph

Science North's "Our Climate Quest" travelling exhibit is coming to Guelph.

Hosted by Royal City Science, the highly acclaimed travelling exhibit, ‘Our Climate Quest’ will be in Guelph from June 5 to June 26 at Harcourt United Church.

‘Our Climate Quest’ offers a hands-on learning experience meant to bring climate science to life to foster awareness and inspire action.

The exhibit features interactive displays and engaging activities designed to educate visitors about the impact of climate change and the steps that can be taken to mitigate its effects.

“We are super excited to have our friends from Science North come and spend pretty much the whole month of June here at Harcourt United Church,” said U of G physics professor, Dr. Joanne O’Meara from Royal City Science.

“The exhibit is funded by the federal government. The initiative is really to help Canadians learn about what we can do as individuals to combat climate change.” 

‘Our Climate Quest’ will be open to the public on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) and available for school visits on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. This interactive journey, hosted in the gymnasium of Harcourt United Church, is free of charge.

Teachers can schedule a visit for their students by booking online at the school group booking link.

"There are a number of workshops offered to schools that can come out and spend an hour learning about different aspects of climate and sustainability and  there are also hours available for the general public too to come out, have fun, learn and explore," O'Meara said.

Young junior scientists from kindergarten to Grade 3 can sign up to do a workshop called 'working with worms'. They will learn about life cycles of certain organisms, composting and the role that worms play."

Grade 4 to 7 students can engage in a workshop called 'habitat and biodiversity' that includes learning about how all living things are connected and the impact the environment has on biodiversity and living creatures.

"Students in Grades 8 to 12 can take part in a workshop about wind turbines with a focus on renewable energy generation. They can actually play around with various turbine designs and see what impacts those have on the efficiency and effectiveness in converting wind energy into electricity," O'Meara said.

There are scavenger hunts as well for all classes.

"Our mission at Royal City Science is just to provide everyone with fun, engaging, and hands on opportunities to learn about science, technology, engineering and mathematics."

Royal City Science aims to ignite curiosity with STEAM pop-up events in the city.

"There really isn’t a permanent place for us to be able to do that in this community which is why we formed Royal City Science the first place. Bringing in partners like Science North gives us the opportunity to engage with that kind of learning and inspire the next generation for scientists and engineers to figure out the creative ways to solve the serious problems we face like climate change, access to clean drinking water, or feeding 9 billion people on the planet," O'Meara said. 

"It's a major challenge that’s facing us and we are going to need students from the science, engineering, mathematics and technology disciplines to help find the creative solutions to those problems."